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THE SKINNY



After their abysmal shooting caught up with them in Detroit, the Pacers continue on the road against a Nets team that is equally cold. The Pacers look to establish some offensive identity against an a talented opponent that is frustrated with its own 1-4 record.

THE LINEUPS



Point Guard

Darren and Deron are both bringing pick-and-roll to their teams, although one is a young, inconsistent starter and the other is a proven all-star. Williams has a clear size advantage, and is a very dangerous scorer. If Collison is guarding him, he needs to use his speed to ballhawk and disrupt ball movement, while forcing Williams to play catch-up with his speed on offense.

Shooting Guard

Paul George has cooled off since the first two showings, and the Pacers have felt the effects. Morrow is a pure shooter who cannot be given any space on the perimeter. George should go right at him on both offense and defense and restore his own confidence.

Small Forward

Granger is on a quest to find his rhythm. Perhaps not having the ball as much takes him out of the offense, and that's an adjustment he should continue to make. Even though he might not get as many touches, he's still just as important to the success of this team as ever. Meeting the expectations of the season fall on his shoulders.

Power Forward

David West finds a heartbroken matchup in Kris Humphries. Humphries signed for some money, but with no one to share it with. Jokes aside, Humphries is the strongest rebounder on the Nets team, and the Pacers were beaten on the boards by the Pistons. Perhaps it was tired legs, but that excuse won't fly tonight. West and Hansbrough have to do their part.

Center

Roy Hibbert failed to reach double-digits against the Pistons, and if the Pacers cannot get their shot going, he needs to rebound and not turn the ball over as much as he has. The good news is Hibbert is shooting at a very efficient clip, so if he starts to make up his mind earlier and continue to be a force inside, the Pacers have a legit center over most of the teams in the league.

THE BENCH






The bench needs to step up. Hansbrough has been hustling, but his jumper isn't falling. Dahntay is driving, but failing to pass and his shot isn't falling. George Hill is still trying to settle into his role. The beginning of the season was supposed to be tougher on the Pacers, but losses are losses, and the bench is supposed to be a built-in advantage for the Pacers in most matchups.

THE COACHES




Frank Vogel is letting his team play through mistakes, but now that a large enough sample size has been supplied for diagnosing the offensive problem, he should be looking to provide a fix with the day off. Avery Johnson finds his Nets floundering without Brook Lopez, and the lack of interior play and mounting frustration from his star player don't help.

THE INJURY REPORT



Pacers
Jeff Foster: Back - Probably not.
Jeff Pendergraph: Knee - Probably not.

Nets
Brook Lopez: Foot - Out.

THE HEAVY MATTERS



-Be wary of the perimeter. No team's interior play should be underestimated, but offensively, the NEts are looking to their perimeter to generate offense.
-Make faster decisions. The luxury of options has caused some players to hesitate when it comes to their own shot. Confident offensive decision-making might be the answer for the sub-par shooting.

THE TRADITION







NO MORE COLD SHOOTING!

Awesome,

The skinny oiled up girl is super hot. Who is she?

Oh yeah lets win

Bianca Beauchamp.

Foster and Pendergraph still look to be out, although the Nets are also thin up front. I hope they return soon.

Sounds like Humphries is out. We should murder them on the glass.

I always knew PG taught MJ how to dunk.

Convincing win on the road. On to the next one....

Paul vs Danny through 5 games


Paul is scoring 12 points per game on 7.6 shots per game.

Danny is scoring 17 points per game on 17.6 shots per game.


Paul is shooting 47% (18-38) from the floor.

Danny is shooting 34% (30-88) from the floor.


Paul is shooting 63% (12-19) from three.

Danny is shooting 40% (10-25) from three.


Paul is shooting 92% (12-13) from the foul line.

Danny is shooting 79% (15-19) from the foul line.


Paul has 12 assists in 167 minutes.

Danny has 11 assists in 169 minutes.


If Paul was taking the amount of shots Danny gets he would be averaging 22.6 points per game. Danny needs to pick his game up in time for Miami or we need to start evening out Paul and Danny's shot attempts.

Paul George can shoot!

And again Hibbert with no minutes and no foul trouble... Haven't watched the game yet, but I'm definitely confused.

I guess you guys dropped a drubbing on New Jersey and were saving Roy?

tsherkin wrote:I guess you guys dropped a drubbing on New Jersey and were saving Roy?

We don't play until Wednesday so I don't know but West didn't play much either and could have possibly been on his way to a triple-double if he'd played around 36 minutes.

tsherkin wrote:I guess you guys dropped a drubbing on New Jersey and were saving Roy?

We rested a few starters tonight.

We've got Boston and Miami coming up, i'm sure Roy will get heavy burn, gotta take the opportunity to preserve guys in the herky jerky season.

Yeah, that's kind of what I thought. Nice to see him still on-pace for about 10 REB36, though, it's what I want to see from Roy going forward. Good move preserving him in a victory against a nobody team, though, I suppose: why risk injury on a nothing game? I suppose I'm just hungry to see Roy produce.

I knew Granger was struggling, but damn, he is inefficient as hell. He should get it turned around when he finds his groove amd realizes he is better as an outlet, as opposed to initiating his own shot.

I am all for PG to be given every oppurtunity to have the ball in his hands on offense because he seems just as interested in distributing the ball than he does jacking up shots. Imagine his impact when the game slows down for him.

Boneman2 wrote:I knew Granger was struggling, but damn, he is inefficient as hell. He should get it turned around when he finds his groove amd realizes he is better as an outlet, as opposed to initiating his own shot.

Granger's strength was never isolation, he's always shown himself to require off-ball movement to set himself up. His long jumper has been mediocre at best the last two years because of weakened passing support, and of course he shoots way too many threes than is sensible. And yeah, he's having a terrible start to the season.

The problem I see with Danny is he was casted in the wrong role and tries to do more now than he is really capable of. I don't think it would hurt us if we would trade him like Denver did with Anthony and find ourselves some new offensive impulses. If we can trade him for a comparable player who is much more comfortable handling the ball, I don't think that would mess up chemistry. On the contrary, it could give others the opportunity to show what they are really capable of.

tsherkin wrote:I guess you guys dropped a drubbing on New Jersey and were saving Roy?

That's one way to explain it.

Another is that the athletic lineup on the court was doing great and had the best run of the game.
Defense was at his best and our offense sufficient.
Why take the risk of being a step too slow again (like in the first half) when u don't need the firepower of Hibbert or West?